416 
pliitt's natueal histoet. 
[Book XXIX. 
very elongated, thin, legs, beaten up in old oil, forms an oint- 
ment which is used for the cure of albugo. The spider, too, 
whose web, of remarkable thickness, is generally found ad- 
hering to the rafters of houses, applied in a piece of cloth, is 
said to be curative of defluxions of the eyes. The green 
scarabseus has the property of rendering the sight more 
piercing^^ of those who gaze upon it : hence it is that the 
engravers of precious stones use these insects to steady their 
sight. 
CHAP. 39. EEMEDIES FOE PAIITS AND DISEASES OF THE EAES. 
A sheep's gall, mixed with honey, is a good detergent of the 
ears. Pains in those organs are allayed by injecting a bitch's 
milk ; and hardness of hearing is removed by using dogs' fat, 
with wormwood and old oil, or else goose-grease. Some per- 
sons add juice of onions and of garlic, in equal proportions. 
The eggs, too, of ants are used, by themselves, for this purpose; 
these insects being possessed, in fact, of certain medicinal pro- 
perties, and bears, it is well known, curing themselves when 
sick, by eating^^ them as food. Goose-grease, and indeed that 
of all birds, is prepared by removing all the veins and leaving 
the fat, in a new, shallow, earthen vessel, well covered, to melt 
in the sun, some boiling water being placed beneath it ; which 
done, it is passed through linen strainers, and is then put by 
in a cool spot, in a new earthen vessel, for keeping : with the 
addition of honey it is less liable to turn rancid. Ashes of 
burnt mice, injected with honey or boiled with oil of roses, 
allay pains in the ears. In cases where an insect has got into 
the ears, a most excellent remedy is found in an injection of 
mouse gall, diluted with vinegar : where, too, water has made 
its way into the passages of the ear, goose-grease is used, in com- 
bination with juice of onions. Some persons skin a dormouse, 
and after removing the intestines boil the body in a new vessel 
with honey. Medical men, however, prefer boiling it down 
to one- third with nard, and recommend it to be kept in that 
state, and to be warmed when wanted, and injected with a 
syringe. It is a well-known fact, that this preparation is an 
^2 Green is universally the colour least fatiguing to the eye. 
12* See B. XX. c. 23. 
See B. vii. c. 27, and B. viii. c. 41. The formic acid ]jrhich ants con- 
tain may possibly possess some medicinal properties. 
